Talbots, Gloucester

This ghost sign may well be the only reminder of the drink and bottling business founded in Gloucester by Thomas Talbot in 1845. Indeed the building fronting Commercial Street, which housed the company's offices, was due to be demolished at the end of 2010.
Founded originally as the Talbot Mineral Water Company, it produced not only water but also ginger beer. Talbot's products must have sold well enough since in 1870 he had enough funds to finance the construction of a new drinks factory on land once owned by Franciscan monks (hence the name of the area: Blackfriars). The office building on Commercial Street might have been part of that expansion. Thomas Talbot died in 1891 but his business continued to do well. At some point Talbot & Co (the name may have been changed following Thomas's death. Later it became Talbots Bottlers (Gloucester) Ltd) started bottling beer and cider for other companies, including Bass and Worthington. The decline and restructuring of the brewing industry in the 1930s and in the aftermath of the Second World War must have had a dramatic impact on a relatively minor player in the bottling business like Talbots. It appears they sold the Commercial Road building in 1954 and went out of business around 1958.

Talbots
Bottlers (Gloucester) Ltd.
Ladybellegate Street
Wholesale Beer Bottlers
Location: Ladybellegate Street, Gloucester, Gloucestershire / Picture taken on: 24/07/2010